It is noteworthy that the word translated "line" (here and in Joshua 2:21), which has its first occurrence in the Bible at this point, is never translated "line" anywhere else in the Bible. Its usual meaning is hope. "Thou art my hope, O Lord God" (Psalm 71:5). This thin scarlet line, the scarlet color perhaps speaking of the blood of sacrifice, was thus Rahab's only hope of deliverance for herself and her loved ones. All others in Jericho perished when the children of Israel took it several days later (Joshua 6:25).